You could argue that Friday night's game was the biggest contest in the brief history of the Chiba Jets, what with the Akita Northern Happinets, the Eastern Conference co-leaders, visiting town and the hosts playing their first bj-league game in nearly a month.
It started off in exhilarating fashion for Jets fans — Chiba jumped out to a 15-2 lead to start the game — but the Jets failed to maintain that brilliance the rest of the way in a frustrating 90-65 loss at extremely chilly Yachiyo City Gymnasium.
The long layoff clearly was a factor as Jets played well in spurts, but looked out of rhythm for large stretches of the game.